Author

David Gordon

Gordon is president of Channel Marketing Group. Channel Marketing Group works with manufacturers, distributors, manufacturer reps and technology companies in the electrical industry to help companies accelerate their performance through strategy development, marketing creativity and market research. CMG generates ideas that generate results.


Advocacy  / Associations  / Channel Strategies  / Industrial Market  / Industry Consolidation  / Manufacturers  / More Insights  / Reps  / Sales Channel
December Manufacturer Moves
David Gordon Posted On December 20, 2016


For some reason when it comes to December manufacturers seem to make a flurry of moves with a number being of the acquisitive type. Don’t know why, but…  And there are other manufacturer “happenings” that we’ve heard of. So, as […]


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Channel Strategies  / Distributors  / Growth Strategies  / Lighting  / Lighting2  / More Insights
Distribution’s Voice in Lighting Rebate Programs
David Gordon Posted On December 14, 2016


Every year utilities spend billions of dollars on energy efficiency / lighting rebate programs.  In fact, one report states $7.8 billion! And estimates are that only $1-3 billion of this are for mid-stream (channel) rebates.  And as Chris Cloutier, our […]


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More Insights  / Pricing  / Profitability
Can You Afford Declining Margins?
David Gordon Posted On December 12, 2016


2016 seems to have been the “year of pricing”.  A number of distributors either discussed, or undertook, pricing initiatives this past year. In many instances it was a desire to reverse an industry trend … eroding margins. Others recognized that if […]


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Channel Strategies  / Distributors  / eBusiness  / eMarketing  / Growth Strategies  / More Insights  / Technology
Affordable eCommerce for Smaller Distributors
David Gordon Posted On December 12, 2016


As everyone knows, there has been much discussion regarding eCommerce and how it is “vital” for the survival of distributors.  It’s essential to compete against Amazon. And small distributors (<$25M) are dinosaurs, destined to become extinct because of their inability […]


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Distributors  / Growth Strategies  / Industry News  / Marketing  / More Insights  / Sales Channel
Looking Forward – Industry Outlook for Basic Sales Forecasting
David Gordon Posted On December 1, 2016


Only 30 days left in the year.  And with all of the year-end things to do and possibly meetings you had to attend, many are just getting around to doing their 2017 planning … or at least sales forecasting. The […]


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Industry News  / Lighting  / Lighting2  / More Insights  / Pricing  / Profitability  / Renewables
The future of utility rebates could be “fungible”
David Gordon Posted On November 28, 2016


Many electrical and lighting distributors have devoted resources to marketing, selling and managing utility rebates to support their customers and as a differentiator to earning lighting retrofit projects.  Frequently utility rebates are used to support LED sales.  The rationale essentially […]


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Channel Strategies  / Manufacturers  / More Insights  / Reps  / Sales Channel
Lessons from a Year as a Lighting Agent
David Gordon Posted On November 20, 2016


Recently a lighting rep who recently completed his first year at his firm, after spending six years in a variety of lighting manufacturer roles, shared his observations.  The rep, Tom Salter, who works for SESCO Lighting, allowed ElectricalTrends to share […]


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Advocacy  / Associations  / Manufacturers  / More Insights  / Productivity  / Profitability  / Reps  / Sales Channel  / Technology
NEMRA Finalizes POS / POT Standards … 26 Manufacturers Endorse
David Gordon Posted On November 15, 2016


For the past 18 months NEMRA has been working with its NMG (NEMRA Manufacturer Group) to better understand the impact of the lack of industry standards to report point of sale (POS) and point of transfer (POT) between distributors and […]


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Associations  / Industry Consolidation  / Industry News  / Lighting  / Lighting2  / Manufacturers  / More Insights  / Technology
NAED 2017 Eastern Region Observations
David Gordon Posted On November 13, 2016


Last week’s NAED 2017 Eastern Region Conference started the association meeting season with a whimper, albeit much of the “lack of energy” may not be attributable to NAED, especially given the need to book meeting space years in advance. The meeting […]


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Branding  / Marketing  / More Insights  / Reps
Electing to Market Through Video
David Gordon Posted On November 6, 2016


With Tuesday being Election Day, far be it from me, or a rep agency, to try to influence an election, but the debates have captured our attention.  Living in a “swing state” I can say unequivocally that I am tired of […]


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